The draft Rural Housing Guidelines are currently subject to a legal review by the Attorney General, the Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform has confirmed.
Minister Malcolm Noonan told the Seanad this week that the “intention is to support rural communities and provide rural housing based on local need, be it social or economic”.
But he added that the challenge is “that over the past 20 or 30 years, we have seen an awful lot of urban-generated rural housing”.
“People are building houses in the countryside and not contributing to the local schools but instead ferrying their children into schools in the urban areas.
“They are not contributing to local GAA clubs or communities. It is critical to get the rural housing guidelines right,” Minister Noonan added.
Rural housing
During a debate on the Planning and Development Bill 2023 in the Seanad the minister was urged by Senator Victor Boyhan to publish the rural housing guidelines “and put them out to consultation for a period over the summer”.
He said: “It is important that we have feedback. We know from the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), Macra na Feirme and lots of other organisations that represent farming and rural Ireland that they want to see those guidelines and to have an opportunity to comment on them.
“This is a significant issue. It is about having proper, sustainable development within our rural communities in order to sustain those communities.”
But Minister Noonan told the Seanad that many issues relating to rural housing are “not just about local need”.
He said they were also about service, quality of well water, the deterioration of groundwater supplies, the inspection of sceptic tanks and local transport links.
Senator Boyhan said new housing guidelines must also address the issue of building a new home in a sustainable way, “but not putting blocks in place to prevent one off housing as needed and appropriate to site location”.
He also called on Minister Noonan to “end the uncertainty” on housing options for those wanting to pursue the option of building a home on family lands.
“I believe that new guidelines should set out clear procedures and objectives to enables planning authorities to respond positively to the housing needs of rural communities – as an integral part of the sustainable development of rural areas.
“These guidelines should accommodate applicants wishing to build houses in rural areas and that needs to be a stated objective incorporated into the National Planning Strategy,” Senator Boyhan added.